Advice for BE

all of those are for more advanced people, if you are just starting there are lower classes, BE 80 or 90.... if you are thinking of joining its worth looking at the british eventing site and it gives you an idea what the classes are and how to join etc.
 
I would advise browsing the BE website and have a look at the events calendar. There will be one within reasonable travel distance, so you can go and have a look.

I would pick one with the class that you hope to run at, so you can then see the times, and maybe focus on a rider or two to see them do the dressage, SJ and XC. You can arrive when you think you would, locate the secretary's tent, find when the SJ course needs walking, fit in walking the XC course, be at dressage warmup to see how that runs (it is very different to how a warm-up in an arena runs, if it is in a field), have a look at what everyone is wearing, see f you would have been ready for your target rider's time.

You can watch the SJ warmup, watch a few rounds, then you can see how that horse goes at SJ, you will have walked the course so you can see if it rides like you think it would.

Same with XC.

It can be a full on day, even without taking a horse, and you would be ready to go when you do take the horse.

You may decide to volunteer at an event. It is a fun day out, you get a briefing. I have done dressage steward and also XC jump steward. Something to learn from both of those roles, I saw how the different riders rode and the different results they got. Volunteers usually get a pack-up and regular drinks, but do dress for all seasons. I volunteered for a pre season RC event last year and in the morning needed 2 jackets and waterproof trousers, and in the afternoon even needed sun cream in Feb!!!

If you look on the BE website at a local event you will see the contact numbers to see if they need more volunteers. also, some events allow volunteers to school XC the day after the event, what better practice would there be for XC than that?
 
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